Piracy: The First Movie
by YolkaEd
Summary: The Cross Skull Pirates encounter an island where the populace practices one major thing: ninjitsu! With an old enemy of one of the crewmates wanting the secret to the technique, can the pirates stop him? Set between chapter 29 and 30!
1. Chapter 1

Flames roared across the town, as the residents of this backwater city someplace on the Grand Line fled from the onslaught of Marines that assaulted the town. One such Marine was wearing a pair of black goggles that were strapped over his short black hair, and a white lab coat with a large scorch mark on the back, which covered his light brown shirt. He also wore a pair of blue cargo shorts with a ridiculous amount of pockets on it. "Yee-haw! Come on, people; dance for me!" he said, as he held what appeared to be a bomb in his hand, which suddenly vanished without a trace, before a building behind him exploded, which made him laugh heartily. "Everything burns! That's just how I like it! Don't you think it's best when it's hot, too, Allenton?!"

The Marine he spoke to was wearing a white overcoat, blue jeans and black sandals, and his hair was short and blonde, contrasting the shorter Marine besides him. "Don't go overboard." he said in a reprimanding tone, as he was holding a featureless card in his hand, save for what appeared to be an arrow on it. "If we're going to get the secrets of this island, some people will have to be kept alive." Then, he pointed the image of the card at a fleeing citizen, just as the arrow flew out of the card, piercing the citizen's skull. "And yes, I'm aware of the hypocrisy. Spare me the jokes, Rand."

"Indeed; keep your jokes to yourself, boy." a gruffer voice said, as both Allenton and Rand suddenly froze, just as a taller Marine approached them from behind, and from the looks of it, he was their leader. He wore a long-sleeved black suit covered by a standard Marine Officer coat draped over his shoulders like some sort of cape, and his nearly crop-cut hair was a firm shade of black, matching his narrowed eyes. A shotgun was strapped to his waist, almost like a sword in its sheath. What was the most peculiar about this man was the fact that his mouth had two wounds that began at the corner of his lips all the way to the end of his cheeks, giving the impression that he was smiling, while he clearly wasn't; a Glasgow Grin. "Send the troops to find the temple. The keepers of the secret are sure to be hiding there."

Allenton turned to face the larger Marine, giving him a salute. "Sir! We've searched every inch of this island, but so far, we haven't found anything that could be considered a temple."

At that moment, Rand turned to face the larger Marine as well, but unlike Allenton, he didn't salute. "What's the point of all this, Captain? Won't it just be simpler to blow the shit out of the entire island until we find it?"

The captain frowned, which only made his scar seem much creepier than it normally would. "And risk destroying the temple? You should be thankful that I'm not decommissioning you for your foolish thoughts. Now find the temple!" Both of the Marines nodded nervously, before they ran off in a random direction. At that moment, the captain scoffed. "Just you wait, Hopkins… I'll teach you to make a fool out of Captain Westfall."

Meanwhile, a moderately sized force of Marine troops were scouring the nearby woods for any clues regarding this temple, but so far, none of them had found anything. "This is ridiculous!" one of them sighed, as he crossed his arms. "We've looked just about everywhere, and there ain't no signs of anything here! Why don't we just get back to the ship and finish the night with some card games? I'm sure Lieutenant Commander Allenton wouldn't mind us helping us deal!"

"First off, he's no gambler." a female Marine said with a groan, as she pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Second, what do you think Westfall would do with us if we shirked out on our duties?"

"Like he'll notice." a fatter Marine said, as he was scouting ahead with a pair of binoculars. "Both Allenton and Ensign Rand have told him for the past few days that no matter where we look on this island, there ain't no temple. We could use the same excuse as well."

The lazy Marine was about to say something, when they heard something moving in the woods around them. "What was that?" he said in a slightly intimidated tone, as he lifted his sword, looking uncertainly around him.

"Don't tell me that it's one of Westfall's scouts." the female one said, as she pulled out a gun, her eyes scouring the area.

The fat Marine didn't say anything, as he was for some reason trying and pick up some kind of scent, by whiffing at the air like it was some kind of dessert. "There's someone here. And they don't smell like the ship." he said, before he raised his fists, scouring the area with his eyes as well.

Suddenly, the Marine who held the sword felt a stinging pain in his arm, just as he was blown back by a gust of wind, dropping his sword in the process. As the female and fat Marines looked towards him, the female Marine suddenly noticed that her gun had gone missing. "What the flying-"

"Watch out!" the fat Marine yelled, as he threw the female Marine aside, before suddenly feeling something punch rapidly at his stomach, which began making the Marine feel nauseous after a few minutes of it. Then, his unknown assailant suddenly gave him a good kick, which sent him crashing right next to the lazy Marine, where he stayed down.

"Hmm… guns." a female voice said, which sent shivers down the Marine's spine. "An uncivilized tool used for killing… like you've done to the citizens of the town." Soon, the Marine saw that a red aura was forming around her, and quite frankly, it scared her beyond compare. "Let's see how it feels like… to be gunned down, like you've gunned down others."

"STOP!" a different, female voice said, just as a gunshot was heard, which, while not piercing the Marine's flesh with a bullet, still managed to create a wound in her arm, forcing her to yell out in pain. "Thank goodness I stopped you… what do you think would happen if you had shot yourself in the head?"

The female Marine gulped, as she clutched the wound on her arm, looking frantically around, beads of sweat running down her body. "Who the hell is there?!" she yelled, as she looked in the direction of her fallen comrades, who were slowly regaining consciousness, when she saw three shadowed figures standing in tree branches above them.

"Tell your captain this…" the one in the middle said, as she held what seemed to be a shuriken between her fingers. "The secrets of Kiritsu Island shall never be revealed to anyone!" Then, flinging the shuriken at the feet of the Marine, all three of the figures vanished, leaving the Marines there to wonder what the hell had occurred.

"Hrm…" the female Marine sighed, as she picked up the shuriken, inspecting it. "I think we've got a bigger problem than Westfall punishing us for shirking on our duties this time."

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**Piracy: The New Generation**

**THE MOVIE**

**Clash between Pirates and Ninjas!**

**The Secrets of Kiritsu Island!**

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Following the day they had received a Log Pose from the skeletal musician of the Straw-Hat Pirates, 'Humming' Brook, the Cross Skull Pirates were now headed for the island which they were pointed towards. At the moment, the newest addition of this crew, the Fishwoman Maria, was sitting by the wolf-shaped figurehead of their ship, Howling Moon, gazing out towards the sea, her maid-uniform gently blowing in the wind. The memories of her tragic past were still haunting her somewhat, but with the people inhabiting this crew, they would not be of any inconvenience.

"Hiya, Maria!" she heard someone suddenly call, and in a bit of a fluster, she turned her head to see a regular human wearing a red T-shirt with torn-off sleeves, a pair of blue shorts and a pair of boots standing over her. "You've gotten yourself comfortable yet?" he said with a grin, as he leant against the railing of the ivory-colored ship. "Of course, seeing as you're a pirate now, that could take time."

Maria blinked, before she shook her head at the blond-haired pirate. "I-I have gotten used to staying h-here, actually, Nampu." she said, as she rubbed the back of her head bashfully. "Our captain is one of the n-nicer ones I've met, if I may sp-speak my mind."

"Yeah, but then again, most pirates aren't actually nice." Nampu said with a shrug, before he looked towards the horizon. "I wonder what the island we're headed to will be like."

Maria opened her mouth to speak, when she heard someone approach from behind them, and as both she and Nampu looked back, they saw a girl with emerald green eyes and light blue hair, who was wearing comfortable boys clothing and ankle boots standing before them. "Hey, Jin wanted you two to know that dinner's almost done." she said, as she pointed her thumb behind her, motioning towards the kitchen of the pirate ship.

"Wait, hang on a minute, Shin…" Nampu began, as he shuddered a bit. "Don't tell me that Zugai's the one who's cooking?" he asked, though the fearful tone in his voice instilled some shock in Maria.

"Nope, that isn't the case." Shin replied, as she looked behind her, just missing a sigh of relief from Nampu. "Actually, KC and Craigmirra are making the food, and Jin's there with them to observe them in action."

Maria blinked, as she scratched her chin in thought. "B-but… shouldn't you be watching as well?" she asked Shin, who merely tilted her head in response. "I-I mean, since y-you're the cook, and…"

Suddenly, Shin laughed. "I get where you're going with that, Maria, but I think that if anyone wants to cook, as long as they don't waste our resources, they should be able to do so without me hovering over them every two seconds! After all, what's the worst that could happen?"

Somehow, her question was answered when a massive explosion erupted from the kitchen, which startled Nampu and Maria, but Shin's expression remained the same, without her moving at all. Soon after that, three bodies flew out of the kitchen, as the explosion had propelled them out of there, letting all of them crash into the white wall right next to Shin. All of them were completely covered in soot, but it was easy to discern that one of them was a small girl, and the other two were guys.

Suddenly, the girl bounced off the wall, clapping her hands giddily, as the soot flew off her, revealing the pink color of her Lolita-styled dress, and her curly, blonde locks that made up her hair. "That's got to be the coolest thing I've ever seen! Can we do it again, can we?" she said in an enthusiastic tone, as she looked at the two boys, who got up from the ground, both of them dazed.

"N-no thanks, Craigmirra. I think I've seen enough of explosions for some time." the younger of the two said, as he began dusting soot off his body. His navy-blue T-shirt was somehow not completely singed from the fiery explosion, and neither were his black jeans. However, a small ember of flame was on top of his dirty-blonde hair, which he failed to notice, as he was now inspecting a slightly-sooted falcata sword. "What about you, Jin?"

The boy he had addressed didn't reply at first, as he cracked his back with a grunt. "No thanks, KC; I'm cool." he said, before looking back at KC, just as water slowly poured out from the top of his head, washing the soot off his body. He wore a short-sleeved, orange jacket along with blue cargo shorts and sandals, and a black headband with some sort of Jolly Roger on it bound around his head, which was covered in dark-brown, spiky hair. "But if someone could tell me _how _we got half the kitchen to explode, that would be nice." he added, just as he pinched the flame in KC's hair, extinguishing it.

At that moment, three other people emerged from two different rooms; one girl and what seemed to be a guy from one, and another boy from another. The girl was wearing a red T-shirt, along with white jeans, and her head was covered in dark-brown hair. The 'boy' with her wore a dark jacket covering a loose T-shirt, along with equally loose jeans, and a loose black hat was worn on 'his' head. "Alright, what happened in the kitchen?" the girl said in a mildly annoyed tone, as she massaged her temples.

"Oh, hiya, Chris, Krystal!" Craigmirra said cheerfully to the pair, almost as if nothing had happened at all. "We were making a delicious stew, when the oven somehow blew up!" she said in the same tone, which made all the pirates present (except for Shin, who was still locked in the same position) look in her direction. "Nothing you girls can't fix, right?"

"Yeah, sure, tell the whole world, why don'tcha?" Chris uttered in annoyance, as she took a grip on her hat, which allowed a few strands of red hair fall down from underneath it. "But how could you make the oven explode just from making a stew?"

At that moment, KC laughed nervously, as he rubbed his head bashfully. "Well… I figured it took the oven too long to actually heat up, so I used my powers to channel heat through my sword, and, well…" he uttered, as most of the pirates (again, except for Shin) groan.

"Well, looks like dinner's going to be put on hold for a while." the guy who came out of a different doorway alone sighed, as he rubbed his temples, which was partially covered by shoulder-long, brown hair which also covered his left eye. His attire consisted of a tattered and torn grey hoodie-jacket, along with black jeans and sadals. "Also, KC, you're going to have to help me reassemble the wall and door; I'm not comfortable with our ship having a gaping hole in it like that."

As they continued discussing the issue of the hole, they didn't notice Shin still frozen in place, with the same, eerily cheerful expression on her face. "…ki… kitch…" she began, before slowly turning her head towards KC, Craigmirra and Jin, who only just noticed her talking to them. "Kitchen…" Then, she suddenly pulled out her dirk, as her eyes flared up, a quite murderous expression on her face. "YOU BLEW UP THE KITCHEN?!?!"

What followed was chaos in its most basic, hilarious form. KC, Craigmirra and Jin quickly realized that trying to negotiate with Shin at this point was folly, so they began running away from the enraged cook, who chased after them with impressive agility. Instead of trying to break up this chase scene, Zugai, Chris, Krystal and Nampu broke into laughter, and even as they were being chased, KC, Craigmirra and Jin joined in on the laughter. The only ones who didn't laugh out loud were Shin and Maria, the former for obvious reasons, and the latter for not seeing the humor in this ridiculous situation.

Then again, maybe the hilarity in this was the ridiculousness of it, and so, Maria couldn't help but let out a small giggle. _This crew may be crazy… but it's the crew I'm a part of. _she thought with a smile.

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When Shin was finally talked out of mutilating KC, Craigmirra and Jin (not as much 'talked out of' as 'being forcefully pulled away by Zugai), the main issue of this situation became clear; while the interior of the kitchen was for the most part intact, most of the food had been roasted to the point that it could only be called ashes with a hint of seasoning, rather than food. So in a nutshell, they were out of food.

"We've only got our emergency supplies left…" Shin sighed, as she, Chris, Krystal and Jin were standing by the mast, trying to figure out how to deal with this situation. Zugai and KC were busy trying to fix the hole in the wall that the explosion had ripped asunder, whilst Maria was keeping lookout for the nearest island from the crow's nest, and Craigmirra and Nampu were busy fishing for more food. "They can last us for a day, max. After that, we're on our own."

"From what I've seen, the island that the Log is locked on to is a fair distance away from Reverse Mountain." Jin said, as he looked at the Log Pose strapped to his wrist. "If I'm to make a guess, I'd say that we won't get to the island before we run out of food, and since we don't know if the island's even populated…" With this information in mind, the quartet sighed.

Meanwhile, as noted, Maria was looking out towards the horizon, to see if anything was getting closer to them, when she noticed something in the distance approaching them. "H-hey, guys! I think I can see a ship over there, or something along that line!" she shouted, as everyone looked up at her, as she pointed.

"Huh… wonder what it could be?" Zugai wondered, as he wiped some sweat off his brow, holding a piece of the wall up against the hole, whilst KC, holding a falcata which glowed red, was melding it together with the wall, due to heat emitting from the sword. "KC, you mind finishing this?" he said, as he let go of the wall, which put KC off somewhat, but still, he kept on melding the wall together.

The crew quickly scurried to the front of the ship, where they could clearly see what Maria had noticed; a small dinghy, floating aimlessly about in the water, containing only one person. "D'ya think he's dead?" Craigmirra asked, which earned him a few looks from the crew, before they settled on not asking about it.

"Huh... I'll go help him." Chris sighed, as she got ready to jump off the railing once the dinghy got closer to them. "You guys just stay put, alright?" she added, just as the dinghy floated right past the ship, which was Chris' cue to jump, landing safely in the dinghy, earning her some claps from KC, Jin and Nampu. Ignoring it, Chris helped the man in the dinghy get on his feet. "You can walk, right?" she said.

The man, who was around Nampu's age, was wearing goggles that were strapped to his head, right above his eyes. He wore a light-brown T-shirt and blue cargo shorts. "Uh… yeah." he uttered, just as the water around the boat slowly began elevating, giving Chris some leverage to jump back on the ship with the man in tow, courtesy of Jin. "But… where am I?" he asked, looking at the ship around him.

"You're on a pirate ship." Zugai said, as the man looked over at him. "To be specific, the Cross Skull Pirates ship, the Howling Moon." Once he had said that, the man struck his palm with his hand like a hammer, in a 'Oh, that's right' manner.

"Ah, I see… man, my captain's really gonna flip his lid when he hears of this… to think that I slept in that dinghy, and… must've been those damn ninjas again." he uttered, as the pirates looked at him with puzzled looks, just as he noticed Chris beside him. "Wait a minute… black hat, jacket, yellow eyes…" he muttered, as he inspected Chris from head to toe. "Chris Hopkins?" he said, as Chris blinked.

"Uh… yeah?" she replied, as she scratched the back of her head. "But how did you…" she added; after all, as she wasn't wanted, unlike others on her crew, her being recognized by anyone seemed unlikely.

"Just wait a sec." the man said, before he suddenly vanished into thin air. Of course, this startled the pirates gathered there, but not as much as when he suddenly popped back into view about two minutes later. "Okay, I've talked to my captain about it, and you're coming with me." he said in a common tone, before suddenly grabbing hold of Chris' wrist.

However, despite him doing that, it didn't stop Chris from punching the man in the face so he let go of her. "What the hell?!" she said in a mad tone. "What are you trying to pull?"

"Huh… grabbing her is out of the question." the man said, as he looked at the rest of the crew, who had suddenly gotten ready to fight; Zugai was holding a large, ivory labrys, Nampu held an iron pipe tightly, KC held the falcata at the ready, Krystal aimed an arrow at the man with her bow, Jin's hand became enveloped in water, Shin drew her dirk, Craigmirra cracked her knuckles, and Maria got in a judo-like stance. "Well, guess I'll just have to…"

Then, before anyone could react, he pulled a bomb out from one of his pockets, before lighting it, just as it vanished in thin air, baffling the crew again. "The bomb is somewhere on this ship. You might want to find it before it blows up. But then again, if you don't, I get to enjoy the fireworks!" Then, he suddenly stretched both his hands out towards Chris, but before he could fully reach her, Maria intercepted him, but despite that, both the man, Chris and Maria vanished into thin air.

"Chris! Maria!" Krystal yelled once they vanished, before looking frantically around her. "Where did they go?!"

"We've got other things to worry about!" Zugai shouted, as he looked back towards the main deck of the ship. "If that bomb goes off, we'll be left without any means to find either of them!" Then, in a hurry, all of the crewmates scattered about, trying to find the bomb.

After thirty seconds of searching, Nampu heard something hissing, coming from the burnt kitchen. Gritting his teeth, he rushed towards the entrance of the kitchen, and when he opened the door, he could see the bomb lying in a corner, the fuse slowly getting closer to detonation. "Guys, I found it!" he yelled, just as he did the only thing that came to mind; grabbing the fuse of the bomb before it could get any further, burning his hands somewhat, but stopping the bomb…

…or so he thought. Somehow, the fuse was still alive, despite him pressing it as hard as he could. "Damnit! Why isn't this working?!"

At that moment, Jin ran into the room, and seeing Nampu hovering over the bomb, he realized what he was trying to do. "Let me do it! Mizu Mizu no Fountain!" All of a sudden, a torrent of water gushed out of the top of his head, hitting both Nampu and the bomb head-on, drenching Nampu in water, but defusing the bomb properly.

"Phew… thanks." Nampu coughed, as he picked up the bomb, just as the two went outside of the kitchen. "Who was that guy, anyway? And what did he want with Chris?"

"We have no idea." Krystal sighed, just as the crew gathered up again by the main deck, all of them looking at the bomb Nampu was holding. "But that ability he had… definitely a Devil Fruit."

"Still, it doesn't explain what he wanted with Chris, though…" Shin muttered, as she scratched her cheek. "And to top it off, he got Maria as well."

As they wondered who this mysterious assailant was, Craigmirra was looking at the bomb with some fascination, before she took it out of Nampu's hands, as she started to shake it. "It sounds hollow!" she said, as indeed, when she shook it, something banging on the inside of the bomb made it clear that it wasn't just gunpowder in the bomb.

"Let me open it." Zugai said, as he took the bomb from Craigmirra, before suddenly prying it open with his hands. As it turned out, the only thing inside the bomb was an hourglass, with a name engraved on a plaque under the glass, with a needle pointing right ahead of them. "Kiritsu Island?"

"Hey, that's an Eternal Pose!" Jin said, as he looked at the hourglass with interest. "But… why throw a bomb here if it only contained something like that?"

"An invitation, perhaps?" Zugai uttered, as he looked in the direction the needle was pointing; somehow, it was pointing in the direction they were sailing in. "Well, if it is something like that, then we're bound to follow it. We've got some crewmates to save, so let's go!"

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In a hollow, burnt-out building, a lone, large man was sitting on a chair, looking out a window with mild disinterest. "Hmph… two whole weeks, and I haven't found anything. These warriors are quite good at hiding the temple…" Suddenly, someone appeared in front of him, and once he looked up, he actually smiled, though the Glasgow Grin he had made it seem much more sinister than expected. "You found him?"

"Yep, captain! Here you go!" the man said, just as he threw two figures before the larger man, the figures being Chris and Maria.

"Ow… why the hell did you do that, anyway?" Chris began, when she suddenly noticed who sat in front of her, and upon seeing him, she got a visible, annoyed grin on her face. "Shit… you again?"

"It's been a while, Hopkins." the larger man said, just as he rose from his seat, looking down at Chris and Maria with a victorious smirk on his face. "Now, what's with that look, boy?"

"Oh, nothing… _Westfall._" Chris spat, uttering the man's name in disgust. "I just really hate seeing pricks like you still hanging around."

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**A/N: **So begins the first Piracy movie! Well, if you can consider a written story as a movie, in the first place… Well, remember that surprise thing I mentioned way back some time ago? This is it.

Now, credits. Plot idea, Rand and Allenton belong to **Kisdota-the Freak Gamer**, Westfall belongs to **SeeNoEvil121 **(hope ya can forgive me for using him~) and mystery ninjas… well, that's for another time. Tata for now!

**YolkaEd**


	2. Chapter 2

Slowly, Maria opened her eyes. She felt them to be unnecessarily heavy to open, though she soon saw why; she was heavily bruised, her maid outfit was covered in dried blood, and she could feel a few cuts on her person, leading her to assume that the blood belonged to her. Also, she found herself to be chained up to a wall. _A… prison? _she thought, as she observed the room she was in; it was a dark, decent-sized room, with a few small cracks in the brick walls around her, and the floor was composed of dirt. The air in this room was humid, and the smell was nothing to write home about.

Before she could make out anything more, she heard cell doors being moved aside, and immediately following that, someone was thrown into the cell as well, startling the fishwoman. "Here's some company for ya, fish breath!" a male voice said from outside the room, before the cell doors were closed with a loud slam.

Who was now lying on the floor before Maria, however, was what really startled her; it turned out to be Chris, but her jacket that she usually always wore was gone, and that in turn revealed a series of nasty wounds on her body, almost as if she had been thrown to a gang of rabid dogs who had mauled her to the point of near-death. However, for some reason, her hat was still planted on her head. "C-Chris?!" Maria said in a distressed, as she tried moving closer to her friend, but the chains prevented her from moving.

"Ungh…" Chris groaned, as she blinked a few times, before opening her eyes fully, wincing in pain. "Damn Marines… you say one thing, and you get beaten by some mooks." she coughed, just as she noticed Maria, before she looked away from her. "Sorry about this… didn't want for any of you guys to get involved with Captain Prickfall."

Maria blinked, as she tilted her head. "Chris?" she asked, though Chris didn't bother looking towards her. "That… man… who is he, and…" she began, just as Chris began coughing violently, some blood spilling on the floor, to Maria's disgust. "…what's your story with him?"

Chris didn't reply at first, as she kept lying in that same, pathetic-looking position as she had been thrown into. Though she looked completely neutral where she lied, what Maria couldn't see was that her eyes were filled with sheer anger. "…he's some jackass Marine captain I had a run-in with some weeks before I first met Zugai's crew. It was on… Organ Island, I think?" she mused, as she slowly got in a sitting position, though it was harder than it seemed; her hands were cuffed.

"Organ…" Maria uttered, before her eyes widened. "Isn't that… the island where the Second Pirate King met one of the First Pirate King's underlings?" she said in awe, as Chris merely shrugged to the best of her ability.

"It could be, but I doubt anyone who lives there now knows of it. But, anyway, he had basically taken full control of a town there, and no one could get any help from Headquarters; Westfall would just handwave it as some madmen acting crazy." Chris said, as she strained herself not tot grit her teeth in sheer disgust at the thought. "On top of that, he had the balls to take outlandish charges for people even staying on the island, and anyone who didn't pay the price were either taken to a prison, or in the worst case, shot."

Maria shuddered, as she noted the serious look in Chris' eyes. "So… how did you meet him?" she asked.

"The same way everyone else met him." Chris replied, as she sighed. "I had landed on the island to get some info on the Grand Line, maybe a map, maybe some money… but long story short, this goldfish fishman was being harassed by Westfall, even after building him a small scouting vessel. When he tried shooting him, I intervened and cut a scar on his left cheek. He got pissed and tried having his men kill me, but the fishman used the vessel to knock the Marine soldiers senseless, and Westfall got his other cheek scarred by me for good measure."

Maria gasped, as she recollected the Glasgow Grin she had seen Westfall have earlier. "What… happened afterwards?"

At that point, Chris chuckled. "Just about the funniest thing ever." she said, as she finally looked at Maria, showing that her left eye was blackened, as if someone had slugged her directly in the face. "After our little fight, he tried shooting me in the back, but at that point, the fishman had rallied most of the townspeople against the Marines there, and before long, he was driven off the island. Well, if you count 'driven' as 'being overwhelmed by dozens of kids, old women with canes, a fishman and me'. God, I couldn't stop laughing for days!"

Maria smiled just a bit at seeing Chris brighten up so quickly, but almost as immediate, she grew a blank look on her face again. "So… did you get to know the name of the fishman?" she asked, but all Chris replied with was a shrug.

"After the fight, he was quick to leave the island, actually." Chris said, as she crossed her arms. "The only thing I learned from him was that he was a former pirate, but he never said what crew…" Then, she sighed, as she looked up at the ceiling. "But that doesn't matter now. What matters is finding a way out of here before he tires of senselessly torturing us."

"U-us?" Maria uttered, as she tilted her head. "What do you mean? I-I thought he only held a grudge against you…"

"He hates fishmen with all his passion." Chris replied, as she looked back at Maria, who seemed genuinely hurt by that. "He thinks of them as nothing but regular fish, and will use every opportunity he can get to insult the race, let alone brutalize them. Why do you think he was harassing that fishman, even after he got a ship for free? I don't think he looks at legends like Jinbei or Fisher Tiger with respect and awe."

Maria shuddered upon that thought, before she looked at the chains that held her locked against the wall. "S-so how are we going to get out of here?"

"That's where I'm stumped as well." Chris replied, as she lied down on her back, looking up at the roof. "Until we find a way out ourselves, it looks like our best bet is waiting for the others; I heard one of Westfall's cronies say something about how 'they've been lured to this place' or some crap like that."

Maria nodded, as she looked at her surroundings once more. "But… where IS this place?"

Chris shrugged as best as she could in response. "As far as I managed to hear, I think they mentioned this place being called Kiritsu, or something…"

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The Howling Moon was now sailing in the direction the Eternal Pose was pointing, with Jin standing by the figurehead, making sure that the needle pointed straight ahead; when it would veer off, he'd steer the ship in the right direction with his powers. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew was preparing themselves for whatever they would face on Kiritsu Island; Zugai had locked himself in his workshop, KC was sparring with Shin, Krystal was practicing her aim up in the crow's nest, and Nampu and Craigmirra were cleaning the kitchen, since they really didn't have to prepare themselves that much.

After keeping the ship on a steady course for some time, Jin put the Eternal Pose in a pocket in his jacket, before jets of water shooting out from underneath his soles brought him up towards the crow's nest, where Krystal was just about to fire one of her arrows, but when she saw Jin approach, she lowered her bow. "Seen anything yet, Krystal?" Jin asked, as he landed on the edge of the crow's nest.

"Not yet." Krystal replied, as she crossed her arms, a worried look on her face. "I just hope they won't get in too much trouble…" she muttered, before sighing. "Chris could probably take care of herself, but I'm not sure if Maria could handle it…"

"Relax; they're probably just fine." Jin said reassuringly, as he patted Krystal's back. True, he was worried about the safety of his crewmates as well, but that wouldn't be enough to discourage him. "Once we find them, we'll just beat down whoever kidnapped her and continue on our journey."

"Yeah, you're probably right…" Krystal replied, but as she looked up at Jin, she spotted something in the distance. "Hey… Jin, I think I see land!"

Blinking, Jin turned to where Krystal was looking, and as he squinted, he could make out the outlines of an island. "You're right!" he exclaimed, just as he jumped off the edge, slowing his descent with a pair of water jets shooting out from his soles. "Everyone, we've got land right in front of us!" he shouted, getting the attention of KC and Shin, and eventually Nampu and Craigmirra, both of them emerging from the kitchen.

Zugai was the last one to get out on the main deck, as he held Honehakaisha and what looked like a white bucket without a handle in his hands. "We're reaching the island? That's the best news I've heard all day." he said with a slight smile, before looking over at Jin with a more serious expression. "How long will it take for us to get to the island?"

"Well…" Jin began, as he began counting on his fingers, his eyebrows furrowing in thought. "Judging from the distance and our current velocity, I'd say we'll be there in half an hour, give or take." he finally said, before he started to crack his knuckles. "That should give us time to formulate some sort of-"

"That's too long to wait!" Craigmirra suddenly yelled, and before anyone could question her, she ran towards the rear of the ship, and without any delay, she immediately cupped her hands by her right hip, just as Nampu, Jin and Shin got over to her side. "I'll get us there snippety-snappily quick!" she exclaimed, just as pink energy began building up within her hands.

"Wait, when could she do that?" Nampu asked as he scratched his head; as he and Shin had been absent from the opera incident on Shigusa, they had no idea just what Craigmirra did during the group's fight with Card Shark and Dojang.

"I asked the same question the first time she did it." Jin said, as the pink energy began glowing brighter. "From what I've gathered, it doesn't do any kind of damage to buildings and vessels, so nothing would be ruined."

"But hang on…" Shin butted in, as she looked over at Jin. "If she does that with the rest of the ship behind her…" she began, and slowly, she, Jin and Nampu looked towards Craigmirra, who was now smirking defiantly. "Oh, this isn't gonna end well."

"RAVU RABU HEART DESTRUCTION WAVE!!!" Without warning, Craigmirra released the orb of energy in her hands, which turned into a gigantic beam that was sent launching across the horizon, but rather than just leave it at that, the entire ship was blown forward as a result of the beam's immense velocity, now advancing towards the island at an impressive speed. While the crewmembers thankfully remembered to grab on to something to make sure not to fall overboard, the intense wind now being blown into their sail was beginning to tear it.

"Craigmirra, it's going too fast!" Jin yelled as loud as he could, but his voice was drowned out from the sound the beam was making. Despite this, the crew could soon see the island in its entirety; a large pillar was supporting an even larger plateau of sorts, though the pillar seemed to be part of the plateau, as if the island was originally shaped like this. On the plateau, one could see a series of towns spread around on it, followed by a series of forests, which were surrounding a mountain. Another noteworthy thing was that leading from the base of the island to the plateau, a large staircase was connecting the two, and as fate would have it, Craigmirra's attack was leading the ship at a collision-course with the stairs.

"Oh, son of a…" Nampu groaned once he saw that they were headed for the stairs, before he began inching his way towards Craigmirra, making sure not to let go of the railing. "You can stop now, Craigmirra!" he shouted, just as he got close enough to Craigmirra to push her, startling her and causing her to cancel her attack.

"Hey! Why did you do that? I was getting in the groove, meanie!" Craigmirra said with a pout, before she tried pushing Nampu back, but in her attempt to do so, she nearly fell over the railing, had Nampu not grabbed her arm before she could be sent flying. "Hey, why are we going so fast?!" she yelled in a panicked tone.

"It's because you used that giant beam-thing!" Nampu yelled back, as he noticed that the ship was actually flying a bit above the water, still headed towards the large stairs. "We're gonna crash!"

However, all of a sudden, the ship crashed back down into the water, and though it got closer to the island, its speed was decreasing dramatically, until finally, it gently stopped by the bottom of the stairs, near a bank of sand. Naturally, the pirates were surprised by this turn of events.

"Phew… that was too close for comfort." Zugai uttered in an exhausted tone, heaving for his breath. As Nampu, Shin, Jin and Craigmirra got back to the main deck, they saw that Zugai was holding his hands on the deck. "A little too late, and we'd be lacking a ship."

At that moment, it dawned on the group what had happened; by using his powers, Zugai had forcibly increased the weight of the ship, causing it to slow down enough for them not to crash straight through the stairs. However, given how exhausted he looked, it was obvious that it had taken its toll on him. Before he could collapse on the deck, however, KC and Jin were quick to grab him, helping him get on his feet.

"Well, we got out of that one alright…" Nampu began, just as he looked up at the sail, seeing the terrible condition it was in; most of the sail's Jolly Roger was practically shredded into tiny pieces, and what was left of it could just as well have been rags. "But I doubt we'll be able to leave easily."

"It doesn't look THAT bad." Shin butted in, as she looked at the sail as well. "I've been able to make two shirts out of fewer rags than that. Fixing the sail shouldn't take more than a day."

"Then I think I know how to split us up." Zugai said, as he was now leaning against the mast, still heaving for his breath. "We'll divide into three groups; one which stays here on Howling Moon to fix the damage to the ship, one that scouts the island for clues to Chris' and Maria's whereabouts, and one that looks for clues from the townspeople. Seeing as we need to fix the sail, and I need a timeout…"

"Got it." Jin said, as he made sure his headband was properly tied around his head. "I guess me and Jin can look around the island for Chris and Maria, then. If that's alright with you, of course…" he added, casting a glance at the swordsman.

With a nod, KC drew out Zanmato, as he looked over at Krystal. "Then maybe you, Craigmirra and Nampu could go into town and look for clues?" he asked, as Krystal gave a brief nod in return.

"Well, if that's settled, then I don't see any more reason for us to hang about!" Craigmirra said enthusiastically, just as her hair began standing up on its own accord, her hands clenched into fists. "The epic mission to rescue Chris and Maria has begun!"

"It ain't gonna be that epic, Craigmirra." Shin retorted with a blunt tone, before she looked towards the stairs leading up to the plateau. "We haven't got a clue on when the Log will adapt to this island's magnetic field, so the faster we can get Chris and Maria back, the better."

"Shin's right." Zugai said, as he looked at his crew, who were all looking back at him. "But even though we have a time limit on us, don't go doing anything too rash; aside from Chris and Maria, the only one who isn't wanted out of all of us is Shin. We want to avoid any unnecessary confrontations." Then, he smiled just a bit. "Now, let's make sure that those who caught our crewmates learn not to mess with the Cross Skull Pirates!"

With a resounding "AYE!", the crew began dispersing. Jin was quick to fly towards the pillar holding up the plateau by shooting jets of water from his soles, but he also created a path of water from his left hand, which KC could freeze in order to keep up with him. As Shin disappeared down into the storage room, Nampu, Krystal and Craigmirra jumped on the shore, heading for the stairs up to the plateau. However, what none of the pirates were aware of, was that someone was watching this take place…

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"Get out! We don't want your kind around here!" a small boy shouted angrily, as he held a stick in both his hands, standing right outside a restaurant, where a group of Marines were trying to enter, but thanks to the boy, they were unable to do so.

"Look, kid, we aren't looking for any trouble." one of the Marines said, him being fatter than the other Marines accompanying him. "I understand that you might be sore about what has been going on around here, but you can't pin the blame on all of us." he continued, as the boy only tightened the hold of the stick he held. "Hell, most of us want to leave this island as much as you want us off it, but…"

"Then tell your boss to take you off, then!" the boy shouted, just as he smacked the fat Marine's legs with the stick, though he didn't seem to notice it at all.

"Kid, we just want some food; the food we get back at the base is like papier-mâché, compared to the food they serve here." the fat Marine said, before he crouched down, making the kid reel back a bit. "We'll leave as soon as possible, if that's fine with you…"

"Barin, just give it a rest." a different Marine said, using a sword as a make-shift crutch, whilst he rubbed his eyes. "If he doesn't want to let us in, then we can't change his mind, can we?"

"Speak for yourself, Kreth." a female Marine said, her left arm being bandaged. "I could go for some actual noodles today, rather than the cheap knock-off Rand likes to serve us." she said, before she walked next to Barin, looking down at the kid. "We can surely pay double for a quick meal here?"

"Forget it!" the boy yelled, waving the stick in front of him. "You people killed my aunt, so I won't let you past here!" he said, though when he did, both the woman, Kreth and Barin looked away from him in shame.

"We…" the female Marine began, wanting to reiterate that the ones responsible for the burning of several villages, along with the murder of several people, including this child's aunt, were mostly Westfall, Rand and Allenton, but she felt that somehow, they were all responsible for letting this kind of thing happen. Before she could continue, however, they heard someone approach them.

"Now, now, little one. One cannot hold grudges against everyone in the world, for one act committed by one person." an old, male voice said, and as the boy and the Marines looked in the direction of the voice, they saw three characters coming their way, two of them female. The girl on the right was of medium height, and very thin. Her eyes were a dark color, and her hair was long and black, going down past her shoulders. She was wearing a tribal outfit consisting of a tan loincloth skirt that covered the lower half of her body, and a tanned top made out of cloth that covered her chest, along with small anklets bound to the top of her ankles.

The girl on the left had elbow-length black hair that was kept in a ponytail, and her eyes were dark blue. She wore a white tank top, an unzipped black jacket with golden stripes that went down her sleeves, black pants with a golden stripe going down the legs of the pants, and brown shoes. She also wore a belt that kept what appeared to be scrolls in place.

In the middle of them was a short, old man, with a wrinkled face, along with a white beard and a single strand of hair coming out from the top of his bald head. He wore a dark-green sokutai-type robe that scraped the ground as he walked, and he held a walking stick with a very thick end on the top of it. "Ah, Miss Nira. I see you and your friends are recovering from that nasty incident that happened a few weeks ago?"

The Marines looked at the trio approaching, and the girl, now known as Nira, gave a brief nod and a smile. "I still don't know who attacked us, but we're still looking for them." Then, she gave a brief nod to the girls besides the old man. "Good to see you too, Miss Li and Miss Shoutaku." she said.

The girl in the tribal outfit gave a brief nod to Nira as well. "Just call me Hinaku, Nira." she said with a smile.

"And call me Wong." the other girl said with a nod, before looking at Hinaku. "And do we have to call you that? Can't just Hina suffice?"

"Then we might mistake her for Rear Admiral Hina, not our own Hina." the old man said, before he approached the boy. "You can let these people through, little one. They are good people at heart."

The boy looked from the old man to Barin, Kerth, Nira and the other Marines with them. Then, he finally moved away from the door, letting the Marines in. However, before she went in, Nira bowed in gratitude to the old man, before heading inside.

"Hmm…" the old man chuckled, before he looked towards Wong and Hinaku. "Even with corruption running rampant in the world, seeing some well-meaning people makes an old man content with life." he said, when he noticed three people approach the town. "Hm, visitors?"

As it turned out, the three people were Nampu, Krystal and Craigmirra, all of them looking at the way the village was built; compared to other towns, this one was very basic, with only a few buildings scattered about; obviously, this was a smaller village. "I wonder where all the people are?" Craigmirra asked, as she looked all around her.

"Maybe they've all gone camping, or something?" Nampu asked, as he looked ahead of the group, when he noticed the old man, Wong and Hinaku standing a distance ahead of them. "Maybe we could ask those guys?"

"I'll ask them." Krystal said, as she began walking ahead of the other pirates, before looking behind her at the two. "Just so you won't accidentally frighten them." she added with a small wink to the two, before she turned her head back again, only to realize that the old man and the two girls had practically moved right up in her face. "Geh?!"

"We don't often get visitors on our island these days." the old man said, as he eyed Krystal, which made her a bit uneasy. "The abundance of Marines here does play a part in it, but I digress." Then, he reached his hand out to Krystal. "People on this island call me Master Takeda, but outsiders may call me simply Tak."

Krystal raised an eyebrow, before she grabbed Tak's hand, shaking it. "My name's… Meg." she said, not wanting to give away her identity, in case they were working with Marines. "The people behind me are Mira and Upman." she said, motioning to Nampu and Craigmirra behind her. "We're just wondering about how long it takes for a Log Pose to lock onto the island's magnetic field, you see."

Tak nodded, as he hummed to himself. "Yes, how long did that take? Somewhere around…" Continuing to hum, he scratched his head in wonder. "Huh… what do you know, I've forgotten!" he finally said, as he began laughing, without noticing that everyone around him groaned out of exasperation. "You should ask my granddaughter; she knows more about such things than I do, really."

"But what about them?" Craigmirra asked, pointing at Wong and Hinaku. "Maybe they know about it?"

"Actually, we don't really live on this island." Wong said, scratching her head. "Me and Hinaku are only staying here for-" she began, when Hinaku suddenly nudged her, forcing her to stop.

"Studying!" Hinaku suddenly said, which prompted some looks from Nampu and Craigmirra. "Master Takeda has a school here that we attend, along with his granddaughter, Atsumi."

"Yes, yes…" Tak began, before he folded his arms, frowning a bit. "…but where is that girl, anyway? Always running about without watching her step…" Grumbling, he looked up at Hinaku. "Have you gotten anything from her?"

Hinaku shrugged, as she pulled out a Baby Den Den Mushi. "I've called her three times today, and she just hasn't answered any of my calls. I'm beginning to worry if she's gotten hurt, or something…"

"Relax, Hinaku." Wong said, as she put her hand on Hinaku's shoulder. "Atsumi's strong enough to take care of herself, you know. If she needs anything, she'll call."

"Right…" Nampu shot in, before he stretched his arms. "Well, if you guys don't mind, I'm hungry for some grub at the moment. Any restaurants we can go into here?"

While both Wong and Hinaku were about to point to the restaurant with the Marines inside of it, Tak cleared his throat. "Please, the food they serve at the local restaurant is nothing compared to what my daughter can cook up. I invite you to come stay at my place for a while."

Both Krystal and Craigmirra raised an eyebrow at this sudden invitation, but Nampu, however, seemed eager enough to accept. "We can chill at your place? That sounds like a plan!"

As he said that, however, Krystal turned to face him, her arms folded. "We shouldn't be intruding on other's privacy like that, you know. Besides, we're on a time limit…"

"Oh, don't worry about privacy." Tak spoke up, as he looked at Krystal and Nampu. "I'm sure my daughter and grandchild wouldn't mind some company. And just between you and me, some people on this island are quite cross about newcomers…" Then, he suddenly pointed his staff towards a field on the outskirts of the town. "My residence is over there! Miss Li, would you kindly escort our guests there?"

"Certainly, Master Takeda." Wong said, before nodding to Krystal. "C'mon, Meg, Mira, Upman! I'll race you three!" Then, she suddenly began jogging towards where Tak had pointed, and taken by surprise, the three pirates were quick to run after her, leaving Tak and Hinaku by themselves.

"They're pirates, huh?" Hinaku suddenly asked, looking down at Tak, who was looking into the ground in thought. "What tipped you off?"

"Even old people keep with the times." Tak replied, as he watched the pirates slowly overtaking Wong in the race. "I've seen their mugs on wanted posters. It would be too bad if Westfall and his men found out about them."

Hinaku nodded, before she suddenly got a worried expression on her face. "But… what about Atsumi? If there's more pirates with those three-"

"I am aware, Miss Shoutaku." Tak said, his tone growing more serious. "Please find my granddaughter, before she ends up getting herself in trouble… or the pirates, for that matter."

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**A/N: **This chapter was originally going to be longer, but I figured that you guys could get more of what's to come in the next chapter. So, a quick roll-call; Wong is made by **Sakura-chan 484, **andHina (who I took the liberty to give the nickname Hinaku, just to not confuse her with the actual Hina) is made by **Sparkling-Nexus137. **And, if you've studied One Piece canon, you might recognize a character from canon I threw in for good measure… or maybe you don't. Either way, just remember to read and review, and I'll see you for the next one!

**YolkaEd**


	3. Chapter 3

"Nothing yet…" Jin uttered, as he looked at the massive pillar that constituted Kiritsu Island's lower mass. As it turned out, he and KC had gone around the island several times, creating several paths of ice around it, but sadly, they hadn't seen any trace after Chris or Maria. "I'm beginning to doubt that these Marines even have Chris and Maria locked up here."

"But they've got to be around here, somewhere!" KC said, as he was the only one standing on one of the ice paths; Jin was still hovering in the air with his water jets. "Why would that Marine leave us an Eternal Pose here, if not to put us on a right track?"

"Maybe it's a ploy to make us go on the wrong track?" Jin mused, as he rubbed his chin. "I'm not saying that they're definitely not on the island, but we've got to be open for any outcome."

Sighing, KC looked at the pillar, before looking up at the plateau it supported. "This is a strange way to shape an island… it looks like some sort of mushroom when you look at it from this angle!" he said, just as Jin looked up as well.

"Yeah, it kind of does…" Jin said, when he suddenly noticed something. Intrigued, he flew up towards the bottom of the plateau, where it diverged down into the pillar. "Why is the rock…" he uttered, as when he got up to that point, he felt the rock and eyed it curiously.

"Hey, Jin! What do you-" KC began, when he suddenly slipped and lost his footing, sending him falling towards the ocean. "Oh, crap! I'm gonna need some footing!" he exclaimed, before he whipped out one of his falcatas, sending a wave of ice shooting out below him, in order to create some footing. However, as he tried making it connect to the pillar, the wave of ice passed through the pillar, rather than stopping the moment it struck the rock. "Wait, what!?"

Before he could fathom what was going on, he felt that someone grabbed him, slowing his descent. "You should be more careful, KC; even with my powers, I can't help you if you fall too deep into the ocean." Jin said, as he had flown down and grabbed KC the moment he heard the swordsman slip, as the two now landed on the ice bridge KC had made. "But… what's going on with the pillar?"

As the two noticed, the ice bridge was going into the pillar, and where it entered, they could see the pillar ripple and distort itself, as if it was a surface of water. "Weird…" KC muttered, as he approached the pillar, making sure not to slip on the ice. "Why would the pillar do something like this?" he said, before he placed his hand by it, but instead of touching the solid surface, it went through, with nothing blocking him from pushing ahead. "An illusion?"

"This looks like it's important. We should get back to the Howling Moon and tell Zugai about this." Jin said, when he suddenly heard something. Then, all of a sudden, something flew down right next to them, narrowly missing them, and when it struck the water's surface, it exploded. "What the-"

Just then, several of these projectiles began raining down on KC and Jin, some of them striking some of the ice paths, shattering them and sending shards of ice raining down, but thankfully, none of them striking the bridge KC and Jin stood on. "Wait a minute…" KC said, as he noticed something headed directly towards them. "Those are cannonballs! Who the hell is able to shoot cannons from this angle?!"

"We can figure that out later!" Jin said, as he suddenly grabbed KC, before looking at the pillar. "…right now, we gotta get out of here!" Then, in a quick move, he ran towards the pillar, both him and KC vanishing into it, just as the cannonball made contact with the bridge of ice, shattering it, though whether or not this affected Jin and KC, no one could tell.

"Aw, man! You almost had them, Greg!" a voice said, as high up above where the two pirates had been, both Rand and Allenton were standing, or rather floating, as Rand made sure to warp the two of them so that whenever they began descending, they'd return to the top. "C'mon, if we follow them, we can still kill 'em!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Albert." Allenton said, as he shook his head, before hiding a few cards on his person. "Those pirates just gave us a massive lead. I'm sure that Westfall would be pleased to learn of such an entrance."

"Hey, we don't even know if that's really it!" Rand protested, as he looked down. "Besides, I'd like to see if they'd outrun my explosions!" However, before he could think further on this, Allenton smacked him upside his head. "Hey! What was that for?!"

"You do realize that if we do not tell Westfall of this immediately, he'll have us executed on the spot for withholding information." Allenton replied, as he looked down. "You do remember that incident not too long ago? With the ninja trio attacking some of our squad members?"

"Oh, yeah…" Rand nodded, as he snapped his fingers. "I still remember how pissed off Westfall was when the officer in charge reported it. And we all know what happened to that officer, am I right?" he added with a chuckle.

"Let's not joke around here, Rand. Take us to Westfall, on the double." Allenton sighed, and with a nod from Rand, the two of them vanished, leaving the area completely empty.

* * *

Back on the Howling Moon, the main sail had been removed from the mast it once hung on, as Shin was sitting on the main deck, manually sewing and stitching the sail together, using differently colored rags to make up for the damage the sail had suffered. "Shouldn't take me more than a day…" she said to herself, as she reached for some white rags, when she noticed that the door leading in to Zugai's workshop was partly open, with steam flowing out from the room. "Huh. He must be working on something extraordinary."

As if that was a cue, the door opened fully, but due to the steam flowing out, it made it impossible for Shin to make out anything that was going on in there. At that moment, Zugai stepped out, his hoodie-jacket removed, which only showed his even more tattered white T-shirt. He was also holding what seemed to be two large, white buckets missing handles in his hands. "That should do it! Now, I've just got to find Honehakaisha, and-"

"Zugai!" Hearing Shin made Zugai flinch a bit, as he looked over at the chef, who was tapping her foot against the deck in annoyance. "What do you think you're wearing? Let me tell you something: That shirt's not going to stay that ruined for long!"

"H-hey, relax, Shin, I'm comfortable with this on, alright?" Zugai retorted in defense, before he placed a hand over one of the bigger rifts, which showed a large part of his scar. "It serves as a reminder to me to not do too stupid things, or I could pay for it with more than a tattered T-shirt."

"Isn't the scar and jacket a good reminder by itself?" Shin sighed, before she noticed the two buckets Zugai held. "Hey, what are those for?"

"What, these?" Zugai said, as he held the buckets up for Shin to see. "I figured that I could build something to make Honehakaisha a bit more powerful, in terms of raw force. You know, in case we find that Chris and Maria are behind Seastone bars or something…"

"Really, now?" Shin asked, as she tilted her head. "But what are a pair of buckets gonna be able to do that the blade of your axe can't do on its own?"

"Well, smash through solid rock, for one thing." Zugai said, as he put the two buckets together by their open ends. "We'll just have to wait and see if this really works." However, all of a sudden, he dropped the buckets he held and turned his head to the left, and quickly lightening the bones in his left arm, he moved his arm so that he grabbed something that had been thrown at him; as it turned out, the object was a shuriken, with six points, rather than the standard four.

Of course, upon seeing the shuriken, Shin was surprised. "What the… where did that come from?" she asked, but she didn't get any time for an answer, as several more shuriken were flung at Zugai, who was forced to remove his left arm's bones out of his arm, letting the projectiles harmlessly bounce off his hardened skeleton.

"I see you're not as slow as I anticipated." a female voice said, as suddenly, Zugai and Shin noticed someone standing on the shore; it was someone completely clothed in black garbs, save for a small area on this character's face which showed a pair of deep, blue eyes. There was also a red sheath for a katana with some form of flame design on it by her hip. "'Demon's Orthopedic', Zugai Hibiware. This island's secrets will not fall in your hands!"

Zugai blinked, as he looked at this girl dressed as a ninja. "…secrets?" he asked, as he scratched his head. "What are you talking about?" However, the ninja didn't answer, as she suddenly threw another shuriken at him, but he was quick to grab it between the fingers of his left hand. "And why are you attacking me?"

"It should be obvious, Orthopedic!" the ninja said, as she suddenly drew the katana, which was relatively short, compared to other katana, out from its sheath, pointing it at Zugai. "You are a pirate, and pirates are evil! You would go hand in hand with that damned Marine captain who has taken residence on this island… maybe he'll leave if I hand you to him!"

Hearing that, Zugai cracked his neck, before approaching the railing, dropping the shuriken he had just grabbed. "So, you're supposed to be a protector of the island, or a bounty hunter?" he said, before removing the glove off his left hand, looking over at Shin. "Do you think you can get Honehakaisha out from the boy's room, Shin? I've got a feeling that this girl isn't going away without a fight." Then, before Shin could answer, he leapt off the ship onto the shore, eyeing the girl with caution.

"But… I can't lift that thing!" Shin finally protested, as Zugai began approaching the girl, without noticing Shin's complaint. "Geez… well, I'd best get going. Maybe if I drag it after me…" Then, quickly getting up, she ran into the boy's bedroom, intent on getting Honehakaisha out somehow.

"So, you've decided to face me." the ninja said, as she took a good grip on her katana, whilst Zugai simply cracked his joints as he approached her. "I should warn you; my skill is unchallenged on this entire island. Do not assume that I'll go easy on you, just because you've got a 25 million Beri bounty, pirate! I'll defeat you here, and-"

"Irakei!" Suddenly, the ninja was interrupted by something slamming right into her face, sending her tumbling to the ground, leaving her lying in the sand. "Were you going to fight me, or just drone on?" Zugai sighed, as he was holding his spinal cord in his right hand, leaving his body's upper half to sway from side to side, lashing the ivory whip about.

Quickly getting up, the ninja growled, before rushing at Zugai. "Stampede!" she called when she got closer to Zugai, before she began thrusting her sword forward multiple times, at a ludicrous speed to boot. However, without a spine in his body, Zugai could easily let his body sway about to avoid this attack. With a growl, she suddenly leapt back a bit, before pulling out a set of shuriken, which she threw at Zugai.

However, the pirate merely swung his spine so that the projectiles bounced away from him, and before the ninja could counter, Zugai lashed it around her legs, constricting them. "Alright, maybe you'd feel up to giving me some answers, now? Maybe like who you are."

However, instead of giving an answer to this, the ninja quickly pulled out several more shuriken from behind her back. "Blizzard!" she yelled, before quickly throwing those shuriken, along with hundreds of shuriken she pulled from behind her back, at Zugai. Quickly, Zugai responded by letting the skeleton of his arms loose from his body, before quickly moving them to swat away or grab any shuriken that looked like they would strike him, and with his actual right hand still holding the whip, it left the ninja back at square one.

Or at least, that's what it looked like, as whilst she hurled the storm of shuriken at Zugai, she suddenly unfurled the spinal cord around her legs, before suddenly grabbing it and throwing it towards Zugai, which threw him off, leading to him having to lash it back into his back. However, as he retracted the whip, the ninja rushed towards him, holding her katana so that the blade pointed away from Zugai. "Flower Arrangement!" Then, she suddenly began twirling the katana around in a circular motion, in an attempt to slice through Zugai whilst he recovered from her sudden move.

"Farankutsume!" However, her attack was repelled by Zugai suddenly crossing his hands, leaving the blade to struggle against six claws protruding out from Zugai's knuckles. "I've got to ask; you've eaten a Devil Fruit, haven't you?" he said, before he aimed a kick at the ninja, though she was quick to simply leap away from it, rather than taking it.

"Yeah. I ate the Dokyo Dokyo no Mi." she said, as she grabbed the handle of the katana with both her hands. "It gives me reflexes beyond any normal human. Observe!" Then, she rushed towards Zugai again, ready to slash at him, though he was ready, holding his left arm up so that his face was being hid behind it, whilst his right arm was raised so that the claws pointed at the ninja.

However, the ninja suddenly vanished, which surprised Zugai, though he didn't lose his stance; instead, he looked around the area, keeping himself locked in position. "Where'd she go?"

"Cliff Drop!" The sudden voice alerted Zugai to the girl's location, but he didn't quite make it in time, as he felt something cut him from behind; as it turned out, the ninja had reappeared behind Zugai in mid-air, attempting a slash at his unprotected back. Fortunately, Zugai had hardened the bones in his back, so whilst it did leave a cut on his back, it didn't do as much damage as it could have done. "Tsch… what form of Devil Fruit have you eaten?" she asked, as she vanished and reappeared in front of Zugai again, who retracted his claws back into his hands.

"The Hone Hone no Mi." Zugai replied, as he grabbed his right arm with his skeletal, left hand, looking at the ninja with a cocky look. "It allows me to harden the bones in my body to a point where I can't feel damage. And, as you've seen, I can remove the bones in my body, as well!" Then, he suddenly pulled out his humerus, as he saw that the ninja got a surprised look on her face. "Now, how much do you know about the human skeleton?" he said, before he placed the humerus in his mouth, as he grabbed his right leg, before pulling out his femur, which forced him down on one knee.

"Tsch… what the hell are you doing?!" the ninja exclaimed, as she suddenly pulled out several more shuriken from behind her. "No matter; I'll finish you off right now!" Then, she leapt into the air, before she began spinning around. "Rain of Blades!" Then, a rain of shuriken emerged from the spinning figure of the ninja, all of them aimed towards Zugai.

However, Zugai had just placed his humerus into his leg where his femur was supposed to be, and grabbing the femur with both his hands (though it took some effort with his right hand), he leapt towards the incoming rain of shuriken, striking away those shuriken that would have struck him, which startled the ninja even more. "Momogachan!" Zugai yelled, as when he got in range, he slammed the femur into the ninja with all his might, hardening the bone to increase the damage of the impact.

The blow was more than enough to send the ninja propelling up in the air, and a few moments after Zugai got back on the ground, she crashed into the shore at full speed, a dazed look visible in her eyes. "Phew… guess that's that." Zugai sighed, as he quickly switched the humerus in his leg with the femur, before placing the humerus where it belonged. "Now, time for questioning…" he muttered, as he moved towards the ninja.

"Finally!" A sudden call from Shin, however, distracted Zugai from the ninja, forcing him to look back towards the Howling Moon, where Shin finally had gotten Honehakaisha out on deck. "This thing weighs a hell of a lot, I'll have to say! Devil Fruit or not, lifting this thing just seems impossible to me!"

With a small sigh, Zugai turned back to face the ninja, but instead of seeing her, he got a flashbang detonating right in front of him, forcing him to block his eyes from the sudden flash. "This won't be the last you see of me, Orthopedic!" the ninja said, and when Zugai could finally see again, she was gone.

"Hmm… what was up with her, anyway?" Zugai said, before he went back towards the Howling Moon, closing his eyes in thought. _The island's secrets… what did she mean by that? _he thought, just as he climbed back on deck, where Shin was heaving for her breath, with Honehakaisha next to her. "Oh… sorry for making you drag that out here for nothing." he said somewhat sheepishly, before he picked up Honehakaisha, easily swinging it over his shoulder.

"Urgh…" Shin groaned, as she sat down on deck, looking up at Zugai. "Nah, I suppose I should be sorry; if not for me, we could have asked the young lady what she was up to."

"Maybe so." Zugai said with a nod, before he looked at the two buckets he had dropped. "…somehow, I don't think that we're going to be done here after rescuing Chris and Maria from the Marines." he said, before sitting down next to the buckets, placing Honehakaisha by them.

This comment made Shin eye her captain with curiosity for a bit. "What makes you say that?" she asked, before she went back to sewing the flag back together.

"Just a hunch, Shin." Zugai replied, as he picked up the buckets, before looking down at the blade of his labrys. "Just a hunch…"

* * *

"Wow, this place is big!" At the moment, Krystal, Nampu and Craigmirra had caught up to Wong, and where they had caught up with her was practically a mansion, if only because of the general size of it; at least three times greater than the average building size back in the village. "And that Takashi-guy lives here? Where does he get all the moola from?" Craigmirra asked, as Wong looked at the mansion along with the three pirates.

"Actually, this was a gift to him from a guy from North Blue, according to Master Takeda." Wong replied, as she placed her hands on the back of her head. "I forget his name, but Takeda always mentioned that he didn't look too rich... but looks can be deceiving, as they say."

"But why does he need such a large mansion?" Nampu asked, as he held his chin in thought whilst he looked at the building. "I mean, if I'm not mistaken, the only ones living there are him, his daughter and granddaughter, so where does all the extra space go?"

Wong chuckled a bit, before patting Nampu's back. "It's simple, Upman! This is the school Hinaku mentioned earlier! Not only does he live here, but he tutors those who come here in various subjects! Now, let's go inside, shall we?"

However, before they could move towards the mansion, the doors suddenly blasted open, as a bunch of dogs and cats ran out of the building, followed by a woman who looked like she was in her early 40s, with brown hair and glasses, wearing a blue apron over a red shirt and blue pants, wielding a broomstick in her hands. "Come on, you pesky animals! Go on and raid my kitchen again, I dare you!" she yelled, as the animals ran right past the quartet, who the woman didn't seem to notice just yet.

Blinking at this phenomenon, Craigmirra looked up at Krystal with slightly frightened eyes. "Are you sure that this is such a good idea?" she whispered, as Krystal only shrugged in reply. It was at that moment, however, that the woman noticed them.

"Oh, if it isn't Wong!" she said in a friendlier tone, as she placed the broomstick over her shoulder. "And I see that you've brought some new friends with you. Or did dad force them into the school he's got going, as well?"

"No, nothing of the sort, ma'am!" Wong replied, as she motioned towards the three. "These guys just happened to be coerced into a meal by Master Takeda. They're called Meg, Mira and Upman!" Then, she looked towards the woman. "And you three, please say hello to Mistress Nakano, who we usually refer to as the vice-headmaster of the school."

Nakano laughed at this title, before shaking her head. "I just take care of the mess my dad's students leave after them. But, if you were invited for a meal, I don't see why I shouldn't allow you inside. Just come on right in!"

Before the pirates could move, however, someone suddenly appeared in front of them, which naturally startled the pirates, but not Nakano and Wong, the latter who was surprised at how this newcomer looked, and the former looking discontent. "A-Atsumi!" Wong exclaimed, as it became clear who stood there; it was a girl with short, black hair, wearing skin-tight shorts, a black T-shirt and sandals, and most notably, deep blue eyes and a red sheath with flaming designs containing a katana. Also, she was bruised over her body.

"Atsumi." Nanako replied, before she grabbed the girl's ear, wagging her finger in front of her. "Where have you been, young lady?! If you've been out training again, and neglecting your studies, then you're going straight to bed without supper!" she said angrily, which earned her a look from Atsumi.

"Sorry… mom." she replied, before helplessly yanking her head in an attempt to break free from Nanako's grip. "But, you've got to hear me out! There's pirates at the shore, and-" she began, though Nanako stopped her before she could continue by pulling her ear. However, what Atsumi had said surprised the pirates, who were unaware of anyone watching them.

"No excuses, young lady! If there were pirates here, don't you think the Marines would have taken them in? I've got half a mind to share with you, Atsumi…" Nanako said, and she only continued raving and ranting to the girl as the two of them vanished inside, leaving Krystal, Nampu, Craigmirra and Wong behind.

"…so… she's Takashi's granddaughter?" Craigmirra finally said, as she looked up at Wong. "What's her deal?"

"It's not something we talk about here." Wong replied, as she sighed. "You could say that Atsumi's… a bit of a rebel."

"And that's putting it lightly." an older voice said, which made the quartet look behind them, only to see both Tak and Hinaku standing there, with Tak chuckling to himself. "It's a good thing that she got back before we did; otherwise, I'd really start getting worried." he said, before he and Hinaku moved past the pirates, as they, along with Wong, entered the mansion. "Come on, you three, and we'll see what my daughter can cook up!" Though the three were uncertain about this, they eventually entered the mansion.

* * *

The sound of cell doors opening caused both Chris and Maria to look up from where they were sitting, as three people walked into the cell, and those three were Rand, Allenton and Westfall, the latter keeping a frown on his face, though with his Glasgow Grin, it was made creepier than it should have been, especially with the lighting in the cell. "I hope you two are ready for some exploration." he said, before motioning for Rand and Allenton to get Chris on her feet. While they did that, Westfall moved towards Maria, who tried not looking him in the eyes, before he undid the chains hanging her on the wall.

Then, he grabbed her by the wrists, making her wince in pain a little, though as he lifted her up, she finally looked him in the eyes. "Why…?" she uttered, as he only raised an eyebrow at this question. "Why… do you hate fishmen? What have they ever done to you?"

Westfall hummed, ignoring the fact that Chris looked over at Maria and Westfall with a shocked expression, before he suddenly broke into a laugh. "Do I need a reason to hate your race?" he said snidely, before bringing Maria a bit closer to his face, letting his piercing eyes really glare at her. "I fail to see why someone like yourself would even ask of that. I would be glad to kill you right here and now, to end your miserable suffering, you pathetic little fish!" he spat, the intensity of his glare actually making Maria whimper a bit.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Chris suddenly yelled, as she suddenly tackled Rand and Allenton away from her, before rushing at Westfall, grabbing his leg in an attempt to make him fall. "If you dare think about hurting her, then I swear to God that-"

With a swift motion, Westfall kicked Chris away from him, before dropping Maria. "You should be careful of what you say, Hopkins!" he said, before he suddenly drew his shotgun from his waist, aiming it at Chris, which startled Maria. "I could kill you as well just as easily…" he began, before he looked at Maria, a smile slowly creeping over his lips. "…but judging from your reaction, maybe I'll spare you." he said, before putting the shotgun back in place. "And maybe I'll simply kill your crew before your eyes." he added snidely, just as Rand and Allenton grabbed a hold of Chris, chaining her arms together.

"Damnit… don't think that I'll let you get away with this." Chris grunted, as Westfall grabbed Maria's arms again, dragging her out of the cell, just as Rand and Allenton began dragging Chris out as well. "DO YOU HEAR ME?! If you harm even a strand of hair on any of my crewmates, you are a dead man!"

"Hmph… empty threats." Westfall said with a sneer, without bothering to look at Chris. "The secrets of this island, and the perfect payback… truly, this is my time to shine."

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for taking so long to actually update this, but… well, I'll be honest; I'm lazy. XD In seriousness, working on both this, the actual Piracy and a third story at the same time tends to blow some steam out of you, so keep in mind; the actual Piracy story is the major priority around here, so this won't be updated as much as both you and I'd like. Well, just remember to read and review, and I'll try to get the next one out faster, but I can't promise anything!

**YolkaEd**


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